President Trump has pledged to remove the makeshift blue tent that has sat directly across from the White House since 1981 and is the nation’s longest continuous peace vigil.
“Take it down. Take it down today, right now,” Mr. Trump told his staff Friday while meeting with reporters in the Oval Office.
The president said he was unaware of the blue tent until reporter Brian Glenn, the chief White House correspondent for Real America’s Voice, brought it to his attention.
Mr. Trump said he’ll take action after Mr. Glenn complained to him that it was “an eyesore” and alleged that it had morphed from a pro-peace vigil into an anti-Trump protest.
The tent is home to the White House Peace Vigil, an ongoing protest calling for global nuclear disarmament and world peace. Those inside the tent have demonstrated continuously since 1981 with a team of volunteers staffing the tent 24 hours a day.
The tent is draped with flags and anti-war banners, including one that says “War is not the answer.”
Philipos Melaku-Bello is the longest-serving steward of the White House Peace Vigil, currently its leading protester. He spends more than 100 hours each week keeping the vigil alive along with a rotating cast of volunteers, according to a profile of him in The Washington Post.
Earlier this month, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a New Jersey Republican, wrote a letter to the Interior Department, demanding the agency review the protest’s legality and end the demonstration if appropriate.
“Let me be clear: nothing in the Constitution guarantees the right to erect permanent structures and occupy public land day after day, year after year, in a manner that creates public safety hazards, degrades the appearance of one of our most iconic parks, and burdens both the District and the National Park Service,” Mr. Van Drew wrote in May to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
When The Washington Post asked about the legality of his protest, Mr. Melaku-Bello pointed to a handwritten copy of the First Amendment and said it wasn’t the first time someone pushed to disband the vigil.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.